Southern Decadence Celebrates NOH8

Southern Decadence is a famous week-long LGBT festival held each year on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana over Labor Day Weekend. Hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world flock to NOLA to take part in the celebration, and this year the Bourbon Pub & Parade wanted to take advantage of that diverse attendance in order to raise awareness for the continuing fight for equal rights in the LGBT community.

Taking that idea into consideration, Sandy Sachs and her team decided to bring the NOH8 Campaign back to New Orleans to kick off Southern Decadence 2011 with an open photo shoot, allowing us to set up our mobile studio on their top floor. Despite the rain, hundreds of supporters stopped by to show their support!

We were surprised to run into a few familiar faces in New Orleans, including Veronica Rodriguez (below left) -- mother of Ceara Sturgis (below right), the teenager from Mississippi who made news last year when her high school decided to cut her out of her own yearbook for posing in a tuxedo for her senior portrait. Ceara posed for the campaign last year while in town for LA Pride.

You can find NOH8 Portraits from SOUTHERN DECADENCE in NEW ORLEANS in NOH8 Photos 12,001-12,250 as well as Creative & Group Gallery 18.

A Special Thanks to Sandy Sachs and Bourbon Pub & Parade for hosting Team NOH8 during our time in New Orleans!